Self sustainability is a DCI passion. We are not fully there yet, but we are making progress. This week we had great success on our journey to self sustainability. James is a hunter. His primary goals when he hunts are to enjoy being out in the woods and hopefully getting some food for our freezer. After a few days of just enjoying nature, he was able to harvest a buck. It was a big buck and a bit older, so as a result the meat could be a little tougher and a bit on the gamier side in taste. A solution for this is to grind the meat and mix it with another ground meat such as beef or pork. This is what we did and it was a family effort! Here’s some pics of the process:

One of reasons we like to harvest our own meat is the health benefits. It is leaner and free from of antibiotics and added hormones. To keep the meat as healthy as possible, we mixed our with organic ground beef and pork. We have a local provider here in central VA called Pasture to Porch. They are a family owned business as well and focus on raising meat that is free range and organic. They also offer local honey, sweets, eggs and personal care products. You can find a local provider like Pasture to Porch near you at Eat Wild.com or you can find grass-fed, organic ground meats in your local grocery now as well but it’s always great to support local businesses when you can.

We chose to make two types of ground meat. The first was a sausage created by mixing the venison with ground pork and sage seasoning. This will be great for breakfast sausage. The second mixture was with ground beef and the venison. We did not add seasoning to this mixture and it will be wonderful in spaghetti, chili, tacos, etc. We had the first meal just last night using it in a meatloaf, so yummy! At the end of the process, we had 60 pounds of ground meat that will last us well through the winter and the majority of next year. It’s healthy, tasty and we did it ourselves. Win! Win! Win!

Do you have a successful story of self sustainability? Share it with us below. It’s encouraging to hear other’s steps in the same journey!